KITIMAT, British Columbia, April 21 (Reuters) - Just a few
miles from the spot where Enbridge Inc plans to build a
massive marine terminal for its Northern Gateway oil pipeline,
Gerald Amos checks crab traps and explains why no concession
from the company could win his support for the project.

Amos, the former chief of the Haisla Nation on the northern
coast of British Columbia and a community leader, has argued for
years that the risk - no matter how small - of an oil spill in
these waters outweighs any reward the controversial project
might offer.

That resolve is shared by many in the aboriginal communities
along the proposed pipeline and marine shipping route who see
the streams, rivers and oceans in their traditional territories
as the lifeblood of their culture.

"Our connection to this place that we call home is really
important," says Amos as he pulls three Dungeness crabs from his
trap, tossing two in a bucket and holding the third up for his
two young granddaughters, who shriek and giggle as the
crustacean wriggles its legs.

"If these little ones can't witness us doing what we've done
for generations now, if we sever that tie to the land and the
ocean, we're no longer Haisla."

The Northern Gateway pipeline would carry diluted bitumen
1,177 kilometers (731 miles) from Alberta's oil sands to the
deepwater port in Kitimat, in northwest British Columbia, where
it would be loaded on supertankers and shipped to Asia. It is
expected to cost C$7.9 billion ($7.17 billion).

Like the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to the United States,
Northern Gateway is loathed by environmentalists who fear it
will hasten the development of Canada's oil sands and exacerbate
climate change. But it is also fiercely opposed by many
aboriginals along the pipeline path and shipping routes.
Continued...